Speak to the Wind (4 page)

With a longing she hadn't felt in years, Maria hoped it would.

Chapter Two

The fragrance
was distant but close enough to sting her nostrils as Maria drove to the post for supplies a few days later. The forest service called them controlled burns, but she knew how fast the flames could get out
of control. It had happened sev
eral years earlier when a neighboring cabin had burned to the ground before help could arrive. Today the stark chimney still pointed skyward, a lonely sentinel serving as a reminder of the runaway fire every time she passed the site.

She could see a huge clou
d funneling skyward like a
smoky
genie swirling lighter and lighter against the vivid blue sky, eventually disappearing as a pale gray wisp. There was an ominous power inherent in the dark smoke that invoked a certain fear in her.

Maria pulled her Honda to a stop in front of
Mounting Spirits
Post, a combination grocery store and trading post located at the edge of the High Meadow Apache Reservation. It was a gathering place for the Indians and
for Maria,
easier to get supplies there than to travel into the nearest town of Show Low. Mrs. Berg, now a widow, was an old friend who had operated the post as long as Maria could remember.

She approached the
sturdy log
building and nodded a greeting to a pair of Indian women who were leaving the store. The women's almond-shaped brown eyes and solemn expressions reminded Maria of the exotic appearance of the man she hadn't been able to forget all week. Joe Quintero.

As Maria entered the country store, she instinctively looked beyond the stack of Pendleton blankets to where Joe had been the last time she was here. Of course he wasn't there, and she hid her disappointment with a smile. "Hi, Mrs. Berg. How are you feeling today?"

"Hello, Maria. Nice to see you again.
Sally
said you were here asking about me. My arth
ritis is acting up again. I pre
dict we'll have rain sometime in the next twenty-four hours."

"Maybe that's why the forest service is burning today.
They expect rain soon.
Did they check with you to see what the weather would do?"

"No. I'd charge them for the information if they did, though," Mrs. Berg said with a laugh. "These old hands are worth a lot."

"They are if they can predict the weather."

J
ust the rain, I'm afraid." Mrs. Berg perched on a stool behind the counter. "How long are you staying with us this time, Maria?"

"Until tomorrow. I need a couple of things to keep me going," Maria said as she placed a can
of
coffee on the counter. "Let's see. What else?"

"So when will you be back to our woods?"

"As soon as I get another break. Can't stay away for long. You know that."

Mrs. Berg gestured toward the window. "Where're they burning today?"

"Up near the lake." Maria added a can of chili to her small pile on the counter. "I alway
s worry about it going wild. Re
member the time McManns' cabin burned?"

"Oh, yes. But I think the forest rangers have learned to control it better now. The McManns sued and won a sizable amount, more than enough to rebuild their cabin elsewhere. I'm sure the government won't let that happen again."

"I hope so...."

"You sound like the folks here." Mrs. Berg started totaling Maria's items and placing them in a bag. "When it comes to
control
burn
s
, the Indians don't trust the forest service, either. Course, they've seen accident
s, too. Is that all you need to
day, dear
?
"

Maria nodded and
counted out the money. "Unfortu
nately these accidents could cost us our homes. So we're wary."

"Did you know the fire department in Show Low has a new fire truck
?
One of the most recent models, too. It's a beauty."

"Still, it would take them so long to get around to my side of the lake that the damage would be done." Maria picked up her bag of groceries, then paused, contemplating. If anyone would know about Joe, Mrs.
Berg
would. She set the bag back on the counter. "Mrs. Berg, do you know a man named Joe Quintero
?
He's apparently a High Meadow Apache."

"Joe Quintero? I’
ll say." The gray-haired lady shook her head wistfully, and her blue eyes sparkled with the memory. "Joe and his brother, Josh, were the stuff of legends a few years ago. They were just little fellows when their parents were killed in an awful wreck
out
near Gallup. The boys were sent to Indian boarding school in Phoenix. I think one of the teachers adopted them. An A
nglo family, if I remember correctl
y."

"Adopted Indian children? How could that happen, Mrs. B.
?
I thought the tribes prohibited that.
"

"Well, Maria, you must remember it was
a long time
ago and circumstances were different. The Quintero family was poor, and the relatives couldn't easily take in two extra kids. I'm sure they were glad to find someone willing to give such good care to the brothers. And to keep them together."

"That situation would be different today."

"You're probably right."
Mrs. Berg shook her swollen, ar
thritic index finger. "But
those boys were given opportuni
ties they wouldn't ordinarily have had. They were excellent students and good athletes. By the time they were in high school, they were in the papers every weekend for winning some sports trophy or scoring a touchdown. They both got football scholarships to Arizona State University. Don't you remember them?"

Maria shook her head. "I guess I was too busy with my own life then to pay attention t
o a couple of guys playing foot
ball."

"As far as I know, they n
ever did move back to the reser
vation after college. I'll bet the Indians talked about them around campfires for many a year."

"I'm sure," Maria agreed softly. Stuff of legends
, hmmm
?

"Why do you ask?"

"I met him the other nigh
t
when he had car trouble and needed a phone
." Maria shrugged as if the ac
quaintance with Joe were merely casual
, something in passing
. "And
I
wondered about him."

The older woman nodded. "I hear he's back."

"He said he lived in California."

"Interested, Maria?" Mrs.
Berg’
s
eyes twinkled, and she leaned forward as if to learn a secret.

Maria shook
her head quickly. "Just curious
."

"I hear that both brothers are very successful men now. Joe is in California and Josh in Texas or Oklahoma."

"We...
uh, h
e didn't say what he did."

"
Why,
I think he's an engineer. But I wouldn't be surprised if he moved back to stay. At least, from what I've heard."

"Why do you say that?" Maria wondered if Mrs. Berg knew that Joe ha
d been right here in the store s
peaking to a small gathering the day she'd gone to the doctor's.

"Oh, many of the Indi
ans who move away eventually re
turn. Something keeps pulling them back. Don't know if it's their people, their culture or the beauty of the mountains. But it's something powerfully strong."

Maria picked up her bag of groceries again. "The Indians probably would say it's the spirit of the mountains. Or the call of the wind. I can understand, though, because the mountains pull me back, too."

"Guess that's why we're all here, my dear."

"I guess." Maria walked to the door. "See you tomorrow on my way back to Phoenix, Mrs. Berg. Take care of your arthritis."

"I'll be right here, as always."

Maria drove back to the cabin, thinking about two young Indian brothers growing up in Phoenix who now were achieving success in the business world.

An education and s
uccess had always been stressed in her own family. As a result, she and her brother
had tried hard to meet their fa
ther's high expectations. Maybe that's why M
aria pushed herself so hard now
to prove something, even though he wasn't here to see her success. She had fallen short of family expectations when she married so young. Determined to prove herself, she had finished college, even though she and Wayne had barely scraped by during those early years of their marriage.

But they were young
and in love and considered them
selves invincible. Wayne's
devastating
illness had smashed their dreams. She was still dealing with Wayne's death when her father was stricken with a fatal hea
rt attack. Afterward Maria stum
bled through life, not enthusiastic about anything except her business. She allowed herself no time for playing. Or for thinking about the two men she'd loved so dearly and lost.

The cabin tucked in the mountains was her only refuge and, ultimately, her source of strength. She supposed the mountains pulled her back, just as they did the Indians.

Traveling through smoke that seemed to grow thicker and blacker with each curve, Maria grew increasingly disturbed. Eventually two pickup trucks created a crude roadblock, halting incoming traffic.

"Nobody goes throug
h here, lady." An Apache man ap
proached her car. "We've
got a runaway fire up ahead. Need to keep the road clear for equipment."

Maria's heart began to pound wildly. Runaway fire! The words throbbed repeatedly inside her head. "I live on the lake! What about the cabins?"

"Looks like only the three at the far end on the cul-de-sac might be in danger."

"Oh, my God
!
That's where mine is! Please, I have to go in there!"

He peered in the window and assessed her for a moment.

"I'm Maria Eden," she said, gasping. "Mine is the
Richey
cabin, the one where the lake road curves around. There are only two more past mine on the cul-de-sac."

"Oka
y." The man waved her through.
“
J
ust stay out of the way."

"Yes, I will
.
Thanks." She gunned the accelerator and flew along the dirt road,
creat
ing a mushroom cloud of dust be
hind her car. She had to park a quarter of a mile from the cabin because of the crowd of vehicles already gathered.

She ran the distance to her precious cabin and arrived breathless and somewhat panicky. Smoke was thick, but the fire was still a good distan
ce away. People loaded with dig
ging tools hiked across her yard. Pickup trucks drove around the cabin and toward the woods. Everyone seemed to be
moving at high speed while Maria stood frozen and helpless.

"Maria! Maria!
Thank
God
you’re here
..."

She
turned and
recognized the stricken faces of two people hurrying toward her.
Ted
and
Betty
Banks, a retired couple, had lived in the cabin next door for over ten years. "Are you all right?" Maria hugged them both. "What's going on?"

Betty
wrung her hands. "Oh, Maria, it's
just
awful! They say the wind picked up and moved the fire faster than they expected. I'm so worried
about our place
!"

"Now
Betty
, calm down
. They've just put us on alert."
Ted
tried to reassure both women. "You can see the fire's not that close yet. They've called fire departments in Show Low and St. Johns. And it looks like t
he forest service and the reser
vation are sending reinforcements."

"I hope they can contain it," Maria said. "
Maybe we should evacuate the contents
, pack things up
.
"

Betty
continued wringing her hands. "Oh
my
,
I
don’t know what to do
.
I keep thinking about the McManns' cabin and how fast it burned.
I don't want
that to happen to
our
cabin
!"

Ted
put a comforting arm around his wife. "Now, Betty, you said you would remain calm."